环境成本外文翻译.docx

环境成本外文翻译.docx

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环境成本外文翻译

外文文献翻译译文

原文：

EnvironmentalCosts

Today,theimportanceoftheenvironmentiswidelyrecognizedbycompanies.Withanincreaseinenvironmentallegislation,corporationsrealizethattheyhavetofactortheenvironmentintotheireverydaymanagementdecisions.However,becausesomecorporationsaretoofocusedonearningsandfinancialcosts,theimpactoftheiroperationsontheenvironmentcanonlybetakenintoaccountifitisquantifiedindollarterms—thisissignificantsinceenvironmentalcostsareoftengrosslyunderestimated.Accordingtoa2006StatisticCanadastudy,Canadianfirmsareestimatedtohavespentatotalof$8.6billiononenvironmentalprotection,including44percentforcapitalexpendituresand56percentforoperatingexpenditures.Thisunderestimationisduetowidespread“hidden”costs.Inastudypublishedin2001,U.S.researcherrevealedthatforeverydollarofenvironmentalcostsidentifiedassuchbycompanies,therewerehiddenenvironmentalcostsof$10.Companiescan’tmanagewhattheycan’tmeasure;therefore,theyneedtomeasuretheirenvironmentalcostsinordertomanageandreducethem;orperhaps,turnenvironmentalmanagementintoastrategicadvantage.

Whattoincludeinenvironmentalcosts

Thefirstchallengeishowtodefineenvironmentalcosts.OnesolutionistouseaclassificationdevelopedbytheUnitedStatesEnvironmentalProtectionAgencyin1995.Thisclassificationmakesadistinctionbetweeninternalcosts（bornebyacompany）andexternalcosts（assumedbysocietyasawhole,butgeneratedbythecompany’soperations）.Internalcostsincludeconventionalcosts（e.g.,directandindirectmaterials,energy,etc.）,potentiallyhiddencosts（e.g.,siteinvestigationandpreparation,audit,disclosureofinformation,follow-upofdata,etc.）,potentialcosts（e.g.,penalties,fines,legalfees,etc.）andcostsrelatedtocorporateimageandrelationships（e.g.,reputation,campaigntoinfluenceperceptions,etc.）.Moreover,externalcostsrefertoenvironmentaldegradationandtoadverseimpactsforhumanbeings,theirpropertyandtheirwelfare.Thereisadebateaboutwhetherornotexternalcostsshouldbepartofcorporacostmanagement.However,morestringentregulationsintermsofenvironmentalliabilityareincreasinglyinternalizingcoststhathaveheretoforebeenconsideredexternal.Thisdistinctionbetweeninternalandexternalcostsiscrucialtomeasuringenvironmentalcosts.

Life-cyclecosting,environmentalbalance,full-costaccounting,total-costaccountingandactivity-basedcostingarecostingmethodsusedbycompanies.Thesemethodsarenotmutuallyexclusiveandanumberofparametersarecommontoseveralmethods.

Life-cyclecosting

Life-cyclecostingisbasedonamoreglobalapproachoflife-cycleanalysis.Therearetwomajormethodsbasedonaproduct’slifecycle,e.g.fromresearchanddevelopmenttodisposal（the“cradletograve”approach）oritsreuse/recyclingbytheproducer（the“cradletocradle”orC2Capproach）,takingintoaccountfactorssuchastransportation.Life-cycleanalysis,amethodrecognizedbyISO14000standards,consistsinanalyzingeachandeveryflowofinputandoutputmaterialsforeachproduct.Morespecifically,inenvironmentalterms,thisapproachanalyzestheactualandpotentialimpactsoftheseflowsontheenvironment.Assuch,itincludesthreestages:

（i）aninventoryofallflowsrelatedtoenergy,water,rawmaterials,airandemissions;（ii）afollow-upofthequalitativeorquantitativemeasureoftheinducedenvironmentalimpact;and（iii）aninterpretationoftheresultsandanassessmentofopportunitiesforreducingenvironmentalimpacts.Thisapproachonlymakesitpossibletoincludeenvironmentalimpacts,andnotenvironmentalcosts.

Life-cyclecostingrecognizestheenvironmentalcostsgeneratedbyacompanythroughoutaproduct’slifecycle,usingtwotypesofanalysisjointly（onaweightedorunweightedbasis）orindividually:

（i）thefinanciallife-cyclecostthatdiscountsmonetaryimpactsfromtheenvironmenttothefirm,and（ii）theenvironmentallife-cyclecostthatmonetizesallenvironmentalimpactsthatwereidentifiedduringthelife-cycleanalysis,e.g.,impairedresources.Life-cyclecostingdemonstratesthatcostscanbeseveraltimeshigherthaninvestmentsoveraproduct’slifecycle.Thismakeslife-cyclecostingespeciallyrelevantforproductswithalonglifespanorwithrelativelyhighoperatingcosts,suchasrealestateandhighways.Inaddition,thediscountingofcosts,e.g.therecognitionoftime,makesitpossibletocomparethecostsoftwoproducts.However,thisadvantagemayalsobethemaindrawbackofthismethod,asitraisestheproblemofcorrectlyplanningforfuturecostsandselectinganappropriatediscountrate.Infact,discountingspecificenvironmentalcostsiscontroversial,sinceenvironmentalimpactsincreaseovertime.Itisthereforenotunusualforcoststobeniltoday,butexceedinglyhighafewyearsfromnow,whichiscontrarytotheveryprincipleofdiscounting.Accordingly,discountingenvironmentalcostscouldleadtominimizingfinancialinterestforprojectsthatreducefutureenvironmentalcosts.

Moreover,thesetwomethodsraisethesameproblemofuncertaintyastofuturerepercussions.Itmaybeagoodideatousesensitivityanalyses,scenarios,andrangestoallowfortheprobabilitythatcertaincontingencieswilloccur.Amoremeaningfulrestrictionrelatestothefactthatthesemethodsexcludeconsiderationofalltypesofcosts.Intangiblecosts,includingthosedrivenbyrelationswithstakeholders,arenotconsidered,norarecontingentcosts,sinceitisnoteasytorelatesuchcoststoaspecificphaseinthelife-cycleofaproduct,makingithighlyimprobablethattheywillbeincludedinlifecyclemethods.

Environmentalbalance

Theenvironmentalbalancemethodconsistsinidentifying,andthenmeasuring,theflowsofinputsandoutputsofafirm,aservice,aprocessoraproductintermsofenergy,water,materials,wasteoremissions.Itcanthereforebeusedattheinventorystageofthelife-cycleanalysisorasaninitialstepofmanyothermethods.Theunderlyingassumptionofthismethodisbasedonthelawofconservationofthermodynamicmasses—totalinputsarebydefinitionequaltototaloutputsplusthenetaccumulationofmaterialsinthesystem.Allinputsbecomeoutputs,hencetheterm“balance.”Thepartofaflowthatactuallygoesintotheproductionofgoodscanbeusedtoindicatethepercentagelossofmaterialsand,accordingly,theopportunitiestoimprovetheproductionprocess.Similarly,alargenumberofenvironmentalperformanceindicatorscanbedeterminedfromthedataproducedbyanenvironmentalbalance.Traditionally,anenvironmentalbalanceisperformedinphysical,non-monetaryterms（kilograms,kilowatts,etc.）.Moreover,asub-categoryofenvironmentalbalance,calledmaterialflowanalysis（MFA）,allowsacompanytoincludeanallocationstageofflowstoeachofitsvariousproducts.

Twomajorcriticismshavebeenlevelledattheenvironmentalbalancemethod.First,itsinput/outputanalysesfailtomeasureenvironmentalimpacts,astheyrelatestrictlytoacompany’suseofnaturalresourceswithoutregardtotheirvaluefortheenvironment.Thesecondmajorcriticismisthatthismethodfailstoprovidemonetaryinformation.However,thevalueofflowscouldbeestimatedinmonetarytermsifrequired.Inaddition,theenvironmentalbalanceisgenerallyusedonlyasaprerequisitetotheuseofothermethods.

Full-costaccounting

Thefullcostrepresentsanallocationofallcoststoaproduct（materials,labour,overhead,etc.）includingpotentialandactualenvironmentalcosts.Withthisapproach,itispossibletoobtainenhancedoperationalknowledgeandtoselectproductswithalowercost（whetheritbeenvironmentalornot）.However,inenvironmentalterms,fullcostoftenreferstoaconsiderationofthemonetaryvalueofexternalcosts.Thisraisestheproblemofhowcomplexitistomonetizethecostofexternalities.

Total-costassessment

Thetotal-costassessmentmethod,developedbytheTellusInstitute,issimilartofull-costaccounting.Whereasthelatterapproachisgenerallyusedtomeasurethecostofproducts,total-costassessmentisoftencarriedouttomeasurethecostofcapitalinvestments.Additionally,theclassificationofcostsusedforatotal-costassessmentrequirestheidentificationofcoststhatarespecificallyrelatedtotheenvironment.Thefull-costaccountingmethoddealswithallofthecostsrelatedtoaproduct,anddoesnotrequirethatenvironmentalcostsbeidentified.

Themajoradvantageoftotal-costassessmentisthatitincludesmoreofthecostsrelatingtoacapitalinvestmentoraproductthanlife-cyclecosting,e.g.intangibleandcontingentcosts,whilestilltakingtheentirelifecycleintoaccount.Thus,itmeasuresdirectandindirectcosts,contingentandintangiblecostswithdueconsiderationforrisksand,accordingly,therelatedprobabilitiesthattheywilloccur.Inaddition,externalcostscanbeincludedinatotal-costassessment,andthismethodcanbeappliedsimplybyusingsoftwarecontainingadatabasetoassessexternalcostsrelatedtopollutantsandcomputethemaccordingtotheprobabilitythattheywilloccur.

Activity-basedcosting

Oneoftheprimaryproblemswithmeasuringandmanagingenvironmentalcostsisrelatedtotheallocationofsuchcoststotheactivitiesorproductsthatgeneratedthem.Infact,manycompaniestreatenvironmentalcostsasoverheadanddon’tidentifythemasrelatedtotheenvironment,whichcontributesheavilytotheunderestimationofenvironmentalcosts.Activity-basedcostingcanthereforeenableafirmto